How to: Make your res a home away from home

Living on campus calls for immediate independence. At first the idea can be thrilling, but at the same time it can be overwhelming. There is no place like home, but with a few tricks your residence room can become more homey, or at least a bit warmer. Rebecca Pitt shows you how.

First things first: art

Make it, thrift it, buy it… The bottom line is: get it. The art you furnish your room with adds character to your new cosy hub.

Sit down and decide: Bohemian? Minimalistic? Sporty? Grunge?

Colour coded? An additional tip: When making new friends, remember that if there is no art in their rooms, don’t trust them.

Pots and plants

On Thursday mornings most Maties are barely alive, so to have something alive in your room might inspire you to get up out of bed. Since it is not allowed to adopt any furry friends, opt for some plants.

Plants are multifunctional: they add colour, they produce oxygen (this is especially important for the stuffy res rooms), which lets you concentrate better.

A little greenery will make a big difference.

Tangible memories

Let’s throw you a basic: pictures. This is a no-brainer, but there are ways to mix it up.

Instead of bringing photographs from your jol in Plett, rather start with a fresh wall. As the year goes on, add photos of all the memories you make. By the November exams you will have filled that wall with special moments.

Of course, this wall will serve as a constant reminder that this is the time you need to be making memories, and sometimes it is okay to fail a tut test… But only sometimes, kids.

Music

Be fully equipped for raastye. This is when you are technically ‘allowed’ to make noise in res. Music will be there for you after a long day of tuts, weird lecturers and heated topics on campus.

Be sure to get a speaker so that you may find some comfort in your soul music while your mom is watching 7de Laan, too busy to listen to your voicenotes.

For good citizen points, get a shower speaker and have those onesong-showers we should all be having.

Caffeine craze

After welcoming week, Maties will be consuming coffee like their lives depend on it. Coffee is especially important in the morning, mid- morning, after lunch, and then just before you hit the bib.
This excludes the coffee trips to En Route, Hazz, My Brew, Meraki, DCM and Tamaties.

Do yourself a favour and invest in a good coffee making station. It’s a great way to make friends, since everyone will want to hang out in your room. (If everything goes well, you might even make a business out of it like that guy in Dagbreek).

When it comes down to it, try to make your room as homey and comfortable for you as possible in order to fight the homesickness. Soon you’ll be calling Stellies your
home.